


Solitarius

by peblezQ



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Sinister (Movies)
Genre: Adult Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Angst, Anxiety, Childhood Trauma, Crossover, Depression, Drama, Eddie Kaspbrak is a Mess, Eddie is a PI, Endgame Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, I'm Going to Hell, M/M, Multi, No Smut, Not A Fix-It, Paranormal Investigators, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Private Investigators, Sassy Stanley Uris, Slow Burn, Stanley is a University Professor, Supernatural Elements, Thriller, Whump, protect stan uris, the worst kind of fix-it, this fic is sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-30 01:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21419833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peblezQ/pseuds/peblezQ
Summary: After defeating Pennywise and leaving the sewers, Eddie Kaspbrak and Stanley Uris have to find the strength to carry on after everyone else in The Losers Club perish. With the memory of Derry and their childhood friends lingering with them after they leave, Stanley and Eddie go home to their respective wives. One day, Eddie decides to do research on supernatural beings - only to discover that Pennywise might not be the only IT in this world. Eddie decides to leave his wife and Risk Analyst job to become a Private Investigator. He calls Stanley, who is a professor at UVA, and begs him to help him save the world by removing every creature that preys on people, one monster at a time.ORA reverse AU where Eddie Kaspbrak and Stanley Uris live whilst everyone else in The Losers Club die. Eddie becomes a Private Investigator who hunts monsters and convinces Stanley, a professor at UVA, to help him.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Stanley Uris/Patty Uris
Kudos: 12





	Solitarius

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy! It's-a-me, Pebbs! I'm here with another <strike>possibly multi-chapter</strike> fic because I'm a moron who can't stop coming up with ideas. I'm really proud of and super excited about this idea, so I just had to write it! 
> 
> IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Some scenes and concepts in here will be inspired by the Sinister movies and Supernatural TV Show. Eddie is basically a monster hunter in this, so some rules I'll follow will be stuff inspired from the CW show "Supernatural" and a case he works on in here will mirror the plot of "Sinister 2" - it's not necessarily a crossover, but it also kinda is. I felt the need to point this out before y'all read.
> 
> How to quickly make a story title: I take words like "alone, lonely, etc," then I translate them into Latin, and then pick the coolest word out of the list to make as a title because I'm lazy.
> 
> Also, this idea was sparked after my sister and I watched Sinister 2 and constantly joked about how the main character was basically Eddie, but he was the only survivor after the battle against IT and decides to become a monster-hunting PI. (James Ransone's character in that film literally has no name, so we called him Eddie the whole time.) Well, a few jokes later, and I realized it would make a great fanfic concept. I also added Stanley into the mix because I realized it can be a full reverse AU idea where those who died in the original are the ones who live and vice-versa, and now here we are...
> 
> Sorry for the long author's note. I hope y'all enjoy the story! Hold on tight. Those tags are there for a reason. I'm a sucker for angsty slow-burns. Y'all know the drill: Pitchforks shan't be thrown at thou author.

### THEN

_ The sewers are dark and murky, the putrid stench invading Eddie’s nose as he pants helplessly. He refuses to let go of him, crying into the crook of his best friend’s neck, begging for some powerful entity to just grant him this one wish_ _. ~Please!~ _

_ Stanley pulls him away, his tear-stained cheeks covered in filth. “Eddie, please! I refuse to leave this place alone!” Stanley begs as he desperately tugs at Eddie’s arm. _

_ Eddie reluctantly releases Richie and follows Stanley, both of them barely making it out of the rubble that used to be the Neibolt house. They sit on the road, panting breathlessly as they watch the sinkhole devour the house. ~Gone. It’s all gone...~ _

_ Eddie and Stanley embrace on the road, their skin coated with sewer grime and their souls torn to shreds as they mourn the missing five pieces ripped from them in the blink of an eye. _

_ The wind blows gently, and the warm sun on their backs falsifies hope and happy endings to summer. Instead, they’re left with rot, decay, and guilt. Eddie’s ears ring with the sounds of Derry finally coming to life for the first time. _

_ ~We did it.~ Eddie laments as he pulls Stanley closer in their embrace; clinging onto him for dear life. ~We beat IT...but at what cost…?~ _

### NOW

The humming air conditioner rattles through Eddie’s brain as he stares at the dishevelled wall parallel to him. He’s sitting on the grimy floor, leaning against the bed with a large miscellany of thoughts. He can feel the blood in his face pulsing, he suppresses a groan as it fuels the oncoming headache.

He ponders what he should do next, wondering where to go and what is the right thing to do. He was never really good with people, always too anxious and coming off as abrasive and outright manic whenever it came to warning people of the dangers they’re soon to face. Most people just call him off as crazy while others tend to just punch him in the face - like the last guy did the previous night.

Eddie’s phone abruptly buzzes, yanking him out of his dazed trance.

Eddie groans as he sluggishly turns and sits up to reach across the bed to grab his phone. His eye is _definitely_ bruised thanks to an ignorant ex-husband who just won’t listen to reason. Eddie sighs in relief when he slumps onto the floor and leans against the bed again, unlocking his phone to open the new messages sent to him.

Eddie frowns at the message. It’s from Courtney - he completely forgot that he left her his number on a post-it. _ He can’t believe she actually kept it. _ The message itself, however, isn’t from Courtney; it’s from her son. The message simply says: ** _It is Daniel. Help us._ **

** _ _ **

Eddie stares at the message for an entire minute before shutting off his phone and tossing it carelessly behind him onto the mattress again. Eddie tiredly rubs his face, sighing loudly. As he drags his fingers down his face, he notices something peeking out of his duffel bag. Eddie leans over and grabs the paper. It's an old photo booth photoset of him and the losers club as kids. He examines it with a fond smile, remembering a time when things were simpler and yet still as cruelly chaotic as they are now. The back has scribbled handwriting that says: ** _The Losers Club, 1989._ **

Eddie tucks the photobooth pictures back into his duffle bag before standing up. He leans over the bed and grabs his phone to open the text message again. He sighs before gathering a hodgepodge of items; he pockets his phone, his car and motel keys, a pocket-knife, and then his gun that is lying beside an expired asthma puffer and a business card that says: ** _Eddie Kaspbrak - Private Investigator._**

Eddie pulls out his phone, checking the time again as he exits the motel room hastily, praying to nothing in particular that he won't be too late to save them.

* * *

** _Beeeeeep. Beeeeeep. Beeeeeep._ **

“You have reached Stanley Uris. I am unable to—”

“—Fuck!” Eddie fermently yells over the voicemail. “Stan, answer your goddamn phone, you dickwad—”

“—answer the phone right now, but please leave a message and I’ll be sure to get back to you when I can.” ** _~BEEP_ **

“Stan, answer your fucking phone when I call you! I’m on my way over to the Collins’ farmhouse right now! You know, the family I told you about? The fucking Ghoul is probably repeating the pattern as we speak and—” Eddie swerves his SUV back into his lane as a truck swoops by in the passing lane; a near-miss situation that doesn’t phase Eddie in the slightest. “—and I’m rushing there right now to stop it! If you would just—”

**_~BEEP_** _“Your message has not been saved. Mailbox full.”_

“—Fucking piece of shit—Stanley, clear your fucking mailbox!” Eddie shouts at his phone bitterly as he tosses it carelessly onto the passenger seat. His arms swerve the wheel again; another near-miss with oncoming traffic.

Regardless of the fact that it took him just shy of two hours to drive there, Eddie arrives at the farmhouse in record time. It's dark outside now as he parks in front of the unkempt house. When he exits his SUV and looks up at the house, though, he realizes very quickly that it appears too quiet and dark.

A blood-curdling scream in the cornfield snaps his attention in that direction, whipping his body in a full one-eighty-degree spin. Glowing red-orange light and smoke reflect in his irises as he stares in horror at the distant sight.

Eddie quickly enters his vehicle again, barely getting the door closed, and ignoring car accidents relating to seatbelts statistics to quickly drive directly through the cornfield. He bounces in his seat as the SUV rolls over the bumpy earth; his heartbeat thunders in his chest as he floors the gas pedal to move faster. He leans forward to look up at the light, steering his vehicle in the general direction and praying to something that he doesn’t crash into anything besides corn. He flips on the windshield wipers when the glass is nearly covered with corn and leaves, and he flinches as each giant corn stock slaps against his SUV.

Eddie finally breaks through an opening in the field, staring directly at the boy with a lighter in one hand and a super eight camera in the other. He keeps his foot down on the gas and drives right to the boy with furrowed brows of determination. He slams on the breaks as he hits the boy, quick to switch gears to ‘park’ before leaping out of the vehicle.

There are three large wooden crosses with a boy, man, and a woman tied to them with meshy-wool bags covering their heads. The middle cross with the ex-husband, Clint - who punched Eddie twenty-four hours ago - is the one burning aflame; his flesh and bones bubbling and melting in the flames that lick his body and the cross. Eddie pulls the knife from his jean pocket as he hurries to the far-right cross with the woman, Courtney, tied to it. Eddie quickly cuts the ropes restraining Courtney and then helps her down before they wordlessly hurry to free the young boy, Daniel, tied up on the third cross.

Once they’re all free, Eddie hastily drags them away, but Courtney resists. “Clint! We have to save him!” Courtney pleads desperately.

“He’s gone—We have to go!” Eddie yanks Courtney’s arm, urging her to follow. She Stares at Clint one last time before obliging, running with Eddie and Daniel to the SUV. Just as they reach it, though, the other boy with the camera charges at them with a sickle. Eddie shoves Courtney and Daniel out of the way, nearly missing the impact of the curved blade.

“Billy, stop this!” Courtney screams as the sickle is swung at them again, but misses by a few centimetres. It scrapes across the side of the vehicle as he drags it along, glaring at them through the camera’s eyepiece. Eddie, Daniel, and Courtney are all perfectly in the frame, dirty and frightened as Billy continues to silently threaten them.

They run in the other direction through the cornfield, barely escaping Billy’s swinging of the sickle. They wander blindly through the pitch-black cornfield, running in the direction Eddie believes to be where he made a clear path with his SUV. Just as they turn a corner, Billy cuts them off with another swing, this time slicing Eddie's inner forearm.

“Fuck!” Eddie yells, wincing as he turns away and grabs his arm before leading Courtney and Daniel in another direction.

They run aimlessly in the dark field, hearing nothing but the cracking of the fire, their rapid breaths, and their footsteps crunching through the mulch. The stars shine so brightly in the clear night sky that Eddie almost convinces himself he’s in a nightmare; running through a cornfield in outer space. The sound of footsteps and clicking of rolling tape to his upper right has his heart pounding; he leaps away last second as Billy swings at him again, nearly slicing his abdomen as the sickle tears through his tee-shirt.

They change directions again, thankfully running through the open path he made with his rental car, and the three of them hurry towards the old farmhouse not too far away.

Eddie nearly trips up the porch stairs and they enter the house, Courtney immediately locking the door behind them. They turn on the lights and scramble into the kitchen, Eddie hissing in pain as he finally notices the amount of blood gushing from his forearm. He immediately runs water over his arm, scrubbing the dirt away with soap and growling as the pain stings him. Courtney disappears into another room and Daniel indecisively shifts his weight, staring out the kitchen window at the dark expanse of the fields surrounding them. They are trapped.

“Daniel,” Eddie croaks out over his shoulder, “hand me that towel over there.” Daniel obliges, nodding feebly before skittering across the floor to grab the towel and toss it towards Eddie. Eddie tries to ignore the long vertical gash through his forearm as he desperately wraps his arm tightly with the towel.

Courtney reemerges with a First Aid Kit and immediately sets everything up at the Kitchen table. Eddie and Daniel sit down with her, and she immediately gets to work on stitching him back up.

Eddie winces as she sanitizes the wound and proceeds to start stitching it, causing him to mildly grunt and groan in pain. “You’re good at this,” Eddie says, trying to distract himself with some conversation.

“I was a nurse for fifteen years before—” she gulps, her eyes still focused on the task at hand, “—before _ he _ made me quit.” Eddie wiggles uncomfortably, wincing a little as she continues her handiwork. “You’re pain tolerance is relatively high. I’m surprised you’re not freaking out any more than you are right now.”

“I’ve dealt with illness and injury my whole life,” Eddie grumbles in response. “I suppose I’m just used to it.”

Courtney looks up into his eyes finally; her own bloodshot from excessive crying. “I assume that shiner is from my husband?”

Eddie shrugs noncommittally before reverting his attention to the front door. “We don’t have much time. Billy’s still out there.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Courtney asks timidly as she finishes stitching Eddie up.

“He’s possessed by an evil creature,” Eddie explains. “It won’t rest until you’re killed on camera.”

“What?” Courtney asks, baffled.

“I know it sounds crazy,” Eddie says with furrowed brows, “but you’re gonna have to trust me, Courtney.”

“Okay,” Courtney sighs before she wraps Eddie’s arm with gauze bandages. “Why is this creature doing this? Why choose _ my son?” _

“Dunno, that’s just what it does,” Eddie replies. “It feeds off of the death of families and keeps the children it forces to commit murder. You just happened to end up in its pattern by pure coincidence. I’m sorry.”

“What is this creature even called? Is it a demon?” Courtney asks desperately.

“It’s not a demon—” Eddie shifts uncomfortably, “—trust me, I checked. It’s something else...something _ sinister _—”

“—The Ghoul,” Daniel pipes up, catching Eddie and Courtney’s attention, “he—_ IT _ made all of those kids do it. They said they wanted to, but I think they were scared. They needed one of us to continue the cycle,” Daniel elucidates, his voice meek and soft. “And Billy wanted to do it.”

Just as Courtney finishes up with Eddie’s arm, they hear the front door unlock. They immediately stand up, alert, and Eddie presses his finger to his lips to communicate silently to them. They nod firmly, and they each tiptoe through the hallway as they hear Billy’s footsteps enter the living room. Once he makes it to the dining room, they go to the front door but find it to be locked. Eddie attempts to unlock it, but it doesn’t budge. The Ghoul has them locked inside the house with Billy. Eddie gets an idea and quietly leads them up the stairs.

They all file into the bathroom and Eddie tells them to hide. Courtney twitches every time something downstairs is thrown around but remains silent. The noises inch closer to the stairwell and Daniel stares up at Eddie, his eyes big and filled with nothing but fear and anxiety. Eddie tiptoes out of the bathroom and enters the study, purposefully knocking over a book as he hurries towards the desk to hide underneath it.

The study is abruptly filled with chaos as everything is suddenly thrown about the room. Eddie rolls over as the desk is flipped and he stares wide-eyed at Billy. The boy stands there, the camera and sickle still in hands while books and documents are thrown around as if they’re in the path of a tornado.

Eddie crab-crawls backwards until he slams against the wall, pinned between Billy and what appears to be ghosts throwing everything around. Eddie attempts to disarm Billy by throwing whatever objects land near him, but to no avail. The desk is slammed against Eddie, pinning him to the wall and protruding a painful yelp from his lungs.

Billy continues sauntering towards him, ready to strike the sickle into Eddie’s flesh. Eddie squeezes his eyes shut, refusing to let this be the last thing he sees. He starts to think of a hot summer day, riding his bike with his best friends. Eddie almost begins to smile as the picture becomes more vivid, allowing him to see the crystal clear details of their features.

Instead of seeing Billy, Courtney’s son, Eddie sees Bill Denborough, riding in front of the group with his bike, Silver. They all cheer and laugh as they all glide down the street. Eddie can feel the cool breeze blowing against his skin, his sweat pooling upon his forehead as he furrows his brows at a crude comment about his mother from none other than Richie _ Trashmouth _ Tozier.

Eddie breathes in slowly, accepting his fate, and hoping to see Richie and the other five losers in a better place...but nothing happens. Instead, Eddie hears Billy turn around and sprint out of the room. Eddie opens his eyes and catches his breath, realizing he stopped breathing at some point. The room is empty beside him and the mess that was left by ghosts. Eddie hears Courtney scream before footsteps thunder throughout the house, creating a buzzing white noise effect in his ears as he lays, pinned between the wall and desk helplessly.

_ ~ Get up, Eds. Save them ~ _

Eddie groans as he shoves the desk away before standing up, silently cursing about how his bones and muscles have become weaker with age. He stumbles towards the exit, grabbing a baseball bat off of the floor in the doorway and hurries out of the study, beelining towards the commotion downstairs.

Billy has his mother and younger brother cornered in the living room, his camera aimed at them and the sickle high above him, ready to strike. Eddie comes up from behind and swings the bat, knocking the camera out of Billy’s hand. It bounces and shatters into pieces as it impacts with the floor. Billy drops the sickle, suddenly leaping to the camera and babbling anxiously.

“Oh, no, no—” Billy grips his hair tightly in exasperation, “—no, no, there’s gotta be—there must be another one!” Billy immediately stands up, shoving Eddie out of his way as he races up the stairs, hyper-focused on finding a new camera.

_ ~ You have to save them all_ _, Eds! ~ _

Eddie helps Courtney and Daniel up and hands Courtney the bat before chasing after Billy upstairs. He hesitates when he sees the attic ladder open and listens silently. He lifts his head at the sound of rumbling above him before immediately rushing to climb the old wooden ladder.

_ ~ I swear if I get any splinters I’m gonna— ~ _

Eddie’s train of thought is interrupted by his immediate fear and bewilderment at the sight in front of him - or rather, lack thereof; Billy is nowhere to be found.

_ ~ Where is he? I swear I heard— ~ _

Eddie startles at the sound of the projector suddenly playing a film. He would not have even registered Courtney and Daniel showing up if not for their screams for Billy.

Billy is in the projector film with all the children and the creature. The Ghoul wraps its arms around Billy as the screen catches aflame.

“Billy!” Courtney cries, dropping the bat and reaching for the burning projector screen.

### THEN

_ “Bill!” Eddie hears Beverly scream as IT takes over the slide projector. IT fills the screen, smirking at the losers as they all back away in horror. _

_ “What the fuck is that!?” Richie squeaks in fear as he grabs Eddie’s arm. _

### NOW

Eddie grabs Courtney’s arm, tugging her back. “We have to go!”

She looks at him with pleading eyes, but nods. The three of them rush down the ladder, stairs, and then unlock the front door. They escape the house and stop at a safe distance to catch their breaths. They turn and watch the farmhouse burn for a while, speechless and exhausted. 

* * *

The air conditioner in the police station is much noisier than the one in Eddie’s decrepit motel room. He sits with Daniel, absently watching Courtney file a police report for everything that occurred tonight. Eddie blinks, the background noise muffling into one constant humming—like a swarm of bees gathering in his head and numbing his senses with every sting on his brain.

### THEN

_ "Richie!" Eddie yells, panic rising with his body temperature as he trembles furiously. He looks down at the spear in his hand, gripping it tightly. He closes his eyes and whispers, "it kills monsters...if you believe it does..." Eddie opens his eyes, looking at Richie. "If you believe it does!” Eddie says louder, his voice gravelly and hoarse. He rips the headlight off of his forehead and strides forward, feeling a surge of adrenaline and courage. _

_ "Beep beep, motherfucker!" Eddie roars before throwing the spear directly at ITs open mouth. Eddie watches as the spear pierces right through its head directly into the deadlights. Pennywise falls backwards and impales itself with the obscure crash sight behind IT. _

_ Richie immediately falls down onto the cold cavern floor and Eddie rushes to him right away. “Richie!? Rich, hey, buddy, I think I did it!” Eddie kneels beside Richie and feels his breath gets caught in his throat at the sight of him. Richie’s eyes are still clouded with white and his whole body is slack as if he is just a corpse. _

_ “Richie, hey, man. Wake up!” Eddie says, a little more hysterically now as he begins shaking him. “No no no no no, Richie! Hey, man, come on! You’ve gotta get up! You gotta— _

### NOW

“—I’m hungry,” Daniel moans tiredly. Eddie blinks vacantly at Daniel, feeling like he has woken up from another one of his vivid anxiety dreams. 

“What?” Eddie asks dumbly. Daniel’s stomach growls and the twelve-year-old holds his stomach with a pout. “Oh, right—” Eddie rummages through his bag to grab his wallet, but the photobooth picture falls out. Eddie feels his body freeze up at the sight of them_. _

Daniel leans over and picks up the photo booth picture set. “Who are they?” Daniel asks innocently. “Are they your kids?

Eddie feels himself ease up enough to breathe out a low chuckle. He shakes his head and reaches for the picture; Daniel hands it to him. “These are my friends from when I was about your age,” Eddie elucidates with a nostalgic grin at the photos.

“Oh—” Daniel nods before looking at Eddie again. “Where are they now?”

Eddie’s breath sharpens as he winces. Daniel flinches along with him, feeling awful and guilty. Eddie gives Daniel a quick reassuring smile before dropping it and exhaling deeply. “You know how that ghoul was haunting your family?” Daniel nods. “Well, there was an evil clown—_ entity _—that used to haunt me and my friends.”

“A clown?” Daniel asks with a tilted head.

“I don’t know. I guess it just liked looking like that. It wasn’t a normal-looking clown, though. At first glance it seemed...normal, but when you _ really _ looked at it…”

“You realize it’s not really a clown,” Daniel affirms with a crooked frown.

“Yeah...” Eddie replies.

Daniel hums, glowering at the aged and dingy tiled floor. “That sounds scary.”

“It was—” Eddie pauses, releasing a long breath. “—but we all killed it, me and my friends, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Was that the first monster you ever killed?” Daniel asks with an inquisitive head-tilt.

“Yeah—” Eddie smiles proudly. “—not the only one, either. I kill all kinds of monsters, now.”

“Where are your friends now?” Daniel precipitously asks, which catches Eddie off-guard.

Eddie inhales, then exhales. “They all died,” he says truthfully. “Well, except this guy—” Eddie points to a young Stanley Uris in the photo, smiling. “We work together—fighting monsters. We all killed that clown together, but only the two of us made it out alive…”

“I’m sorry,” Daniel says empathetically.

“Me too,” Eddie mumbles sorrowfully. He finally tucks the photoset back into his bag and pulls out a five-dollar bill out of his wallet, handing it to Daniel. “Go get whatever you want from that vending machine over there—” he nods towards the aforementioned machine. “If your mom complains, just blame me.”

Daniel smiles. “Thanks, Eddie.” Eddie smiles serenely at Daniel, watching the boy hurry towards the vending machine. Eddie keeps an eye on him for another moment before secretly peeking at the photographs of him and his friends. He puts his wallet and photographs in his bag again, securely zipping it up before leaning back in his seat.

* * *

Eddie pulls into the parking lot of one of the buildings for the University of Virginia. He yawns as he pulls out his parking pass to punch it into the metre. He tosses the pass onto his passenger seat as the road blocker lifts up for him and he enters the private lot. He easily finds a spot since the summer semester began a few weeks ago, switches his gears to park, and shuts off the car.

Eddie shoves his hands in his pockets after locking his car and walking into the building. He sustains his hasty pace as he enters the Division of Perceptual Studies. He walks into the room labelled: ** _‘Investigations of the Supernatural’._ ** Eddie drops his bag containing all of the files for the Ghoul case on the centre table and he marks something off on the whiteboard all in one fluid motion.

A twenty-something-year-old guy looks up at Eddie, alerted from his focused task at hand. “What the fuck are you doing, Kaspbrak?” He inquires with a deep and befuddled frown.

“The camera’s destroyed, so the ghoul can’t hunt anymore. At least, not through that medium. So I’m crossing off the case from the board—” Eddie replies nonchalantly, “—nice to see you too, Jason.” Jason chuckles as he mock-salutes him. “Oh, by the way,” Eddie continues as he walks around the table to go to his desk, “have you seen Stanley?

“Uhh, Prof-professor Uris?” The young man asks rhetorically. “He, um—yeah, he was here earlier. Had to go teach a class.”

“If you see him before I do, tell him to call me so I can yell at him for being a dickwad,” Eddie instructs with deadpanned features.

Eddie begins searching through his desk drawers. “What did he do?” Jason asks, tilting his head curiously.

“More like what _didn’t_ he do—” Eddie continues to rummage through his desk drawers. “—Asshole never answers his goddamn— _ aha!” _ Eddie triumphantly pulls out a notebook. “—he never answers his phone and his voicemail is full— _ and _ he never fucking called to ask if I was okay or if the family is okay—”

“—_ Are _they okay?” Jason asks, leaning on the table and pushing away his textbook to focus on the conversation.

Eddie sits down at his desk and puts on his glasses. “The mother and her one son made it…” Eddie trails off, sighing as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “The fucking Ghoul got the father and other son.”

“Shit, man…” Jason sighs dejectedly. There’s a beat as Eddie nods and hums, seemingly more focused on his current task of documenting the case. “You know you could’ve called me...” Jason mumbles, scratching his neck as he does so.

Eddie stops writing and looks up, his neutral features morphing into a frown. “Right,” Eddie mumbles half-heartedly, lost in a ponder as he looks off in the middle distance before shaking his head and continuing with his task.

“What’s next then? How do we know it’s gone for sure?”

“We’ll keep a close eye on it,” Eddie says as he pockets his glasses and puts his notebook away. He gets up and paces to the opposite side of the room, parallel to Jason, and headed straight for the door. “Until then, I’m off to find a new case.”

“Woah, wait—” Eddie stops walking. “—already got that one covered for ya,” Jason says quickly, rummaging through a few documents on the table before picking up a folder and waving it at Eddie. “Sara and I think it’s a poltergeist.”

_ “ Sara‽" _Eddie says with exasperation. “Who the fuck is Sara?” Eddie asks with a cocked brow.

Just then, as if on cue for some joke to an overpowering entity, a young woman bursts into the room with two coffees. “Sorry I’m late, Jason! The line was hella long—_ ohh_...?” She pauses, lifting her brow at Eddie.

“Sara, this is Eddie Kaspbrak. He’s the PI that I was telling you about,” Jason states matter-of-factly.

“Oh!” Sara’s eyes light up with recognition. “Hi! Sorry—” she scrambles to put the coffee’s down to hurry towards Eddie. He stands still, feeling his muscles go stiff as he awkwardly glances at Jason. “It’s nice to finally meet you. If I’d known you were coming in today, I woulda brought you a coffee as well—”

“—It’s fine,” Eddie interrupts with a tight smile. He shakes her hand before shoving his hands in his pockets. “So, are you a student here?”

“Oh, yes,” Sara replies with a shy smile. “I’m trying to become a journalist and I needed a good story for my final project. That’s when I found Professor Uris and Jason,” Sara briefly glances at Jason and smiles. “They told me about what you guys have done here so far and I was intrigued. It could really make for a great story, you know.”

Eddie frowns. “We’re not interested in journalists here—”

“—We figured she can help,” Jason interrupts. “She’s actually the one who found this next case!” Jason adds enthusiastically. “She’s really fucking good at researching.”

Eddie cocks a brow. “If she’s so good then why do we bother working with you? Isn’t that _ your _ job?”

Sara chuckles and Jason pouts. “Hey, I have way more knowledge about all of this than she does!”

“Not for long,” Eddie says whilst pacing towards the table to look over the new case files absently. Jason sighs while Sara smugly smirks at him in victory. “Work on your salesmanship skills, Jason. Don’t ever oversell anything,” Eddie adds while tossing the files down and folding his arms.

“Noted,” Jason replies meekly.

“Also, this isn’t a case. This is a joke,” Eddie says casually as he grabs Jason’s coffee and takes a sip out of it.

Sara blinks, completely baffled. “Wait, what? Why is it a joke?”

“You’ve got everything all wrong with looking for signs of a poltergeist. It’s not just _ ‘a bunch of ghosts’ _ as you phrased it in your report. What we have at this house is just a regular haunting...you know, theoretically speaking.”

“Theo-theoretically,” Sara pauses, biting her lip. “I don’t understand, I thought—”

“—With work like this, you tend to find a lot of false cases. Well, I mean, something is going on here, but it’s not our department. This case you found looks more like a case for the police department, but nice try,” Eddie explains all too casually as he sits down and crosses his feet on the table.

“Wow, you’re such an—”

“—Asshole? Yeah, I get that a lot from Jason and Stan,” Eddie replies nonchalantly as he takes another sip of the coffee.

“I tried to warn you,” Jason says with a shrug. “He’s a dick.”

“It’s been nice meeting you Sally, but maybe you should go find your story elsewhere,” Eddie says, waving the cup in a mock salute.

“It’s Sara,” she replies in a bitter mumble, her fists clenching tightly by her sides. Eddie shrugs, acting as if he doesn’t care and takes another long sip of coffee. Sara scoffs before grabbing her things and beelining towards the door. Jason urgently runs after her, stopping her in the hallway.

“Hey, you can’t let him get to you. Deep down, underneath that put-on dick persona, he’s actually a really nice dude,” Jason says in a soft tone. “I think it’s just a defence mechanism for him or something—I don’t know, he’s a bit of an enigma,” Jason adds, rubbing his neck with a sheepish chuckle. “Professor Uris says he’s always been a bit on edge, but he’s always been looking out for others.”

“I don’t care. Nothing excuses being an asshole,” Sara rebuttals bluntly. She turns to walk away, but Jason lightly holds her arm to stop her.

“You’re right, there is no excuse,” Jason pleads, letting her go as she lifts her brow at his hand. He sighs despairingly. “Look, I almost walked out on all this when we started working together, but there are more times when he is actually nice. He obviously has some issues he hasn’t properly dealt with, but he’s honestly the type of person to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. He also knows way too many risk statistics that honestly weirds me out from time to time, but it shows he really cares about people’s well-being—”

“—Jason,” Sara pauses Jason’s defence argument. “You can ramble on for hours and it still won’t change my opinion on the matter. I tried to help and the moment we met he got my name wrong and basically kicked me out the door,” Sara grumbles tiredly. “I’m just done with letting people push me around.”

“Then don’t let him push you around. March back in there and prove your worth,” Jason says encouragingly. Sara looks down, considering his suggestion. “Also, you know he probably doesn’t want you working with us to keep you safe, right? What we do can get...pretty dangerous.”

“Well, yeah. I signed up for danger. That still doesn’t excuse his actions. If he was worried, he can voice it like a normal person.”

“Eddie isn’t really a normal person,” Jason responds with a shrug. “I don’t think he’s ever been normal. He’s...seen some shit. How else do you think he started doing this?”

Sara sighs, considering Jason’s words. “Fine, but I’m only doing it to get my story and to prove I won’t let anyone walk over me.” Jason smiles.

Sara struts back into the room and grabs the file. Eddie lifts a brow at her and she rummages through her research, looking for something. Jason stands at the door, observes Eddie and Sara, trying to read Eddie’s expression as the older man watches her search for something in her research.

Sara finally grabs a piece of paper and slams it on the table in front of Eddie. “You said a poltergeist is more than just a bunch of ghosts, right?” Eddie nods. “Well read this and tell me you don’t at least _ admit _ this falls in our department.”

Eddie leans forward and pulls the paper towards him. He pulls out his glasses and reads it. Sara frowns and Jason smirks. Eddie pushes the paper back towards her and shrugs, pulling his glasses off and tucking them in his coat pocket again.

“I’ll go check it out,” Eddie offers as he stands up and finishes the coffee.

Sara’s brows furrow. “Wait a minute, am I...missing something here?”

“By the way,” Eddie says, ignoring her question. “Jason hates coffee,” Eddie states as he tosses the cup into the recycling bin on his way out. Eddie stops at the door and simpers at her. “Welcome to the team, Sara.” At that, Eddie leaves.

Sara stares at the door, blinking vacantly. “What the fuck just happened?”

Jason chuckles, handing Sara her coffee. “Like I said, Eddie’s an enigma. You’ll get used to it.”

Sara frowns at Jason. “You’re such an asshole, you know that?” Sara grumbles as Jason just laughs as his only response.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks in advance for any comments, kudos, bookmarks, shares, etc! I really appreciate all of you lovely readers! I love making new friends! Don't be shy, say hi! Either in the comments or on my Tumblr @peblezq (I never plug my Tumblr account in Ao3 notes, but I have a feeling most of you will be coming from there anyway.) Let me know what you think of it! If it's a hit (and I have time), I may continue it. 😊👌
> 
> ((I stayed up all night writing and editing this, so if you notice anything that looks iffy, please let me know. I am very sleep deprived, aha 😅))


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